Evermore
by WizMonCruWil
Summary: Reylo post-Episode VIII, with a Beauty and the Beast twist! Inspired by the musical's song of the same name and this lovely video: /watch?v PkV3y27BK4U. Enjoy!
1. Chapter 1: I'll Bring Her Back

**Chapter 1: I'll Bring Her Back**

He has everything he could ever want.

Hundreds of thousands of subordinates who scuttle to obey his every whim, lest they incur his displeasure. Stormtroopers ready to lay down their lives at a moment's notice out of devotion to him. Or maybe it's just because they are programmed to obey from the start. Either way, the idea of guaranteed human shields is comforting. Even that sniveling ginger Hux has remained silent and bland, jumpy whenever the Supreme Leader barks out an order to him.

Yes, Kylo Ren, Supreme Leader of the First Order, has everything he could ever want.

Or does he? He can command entire star systems, bend them to his will. And yet the one entity he wants more than anything else in the entire galaxy remains elusive to him.

And not just elusive. She dared to flat-out reject him when he offered to make her his bride, his Queen. The Queen of the First Order. It still has a nice ring to Kylo Ren, even if a dull ache quickly follows. Every strong authoritarian needs a doting spouse to pull him back from the most taboo of edges. And Rey, the last Jedi, would have been the perfect partner, the perfect conquest even. More than this, there has always been something about the scavenger from Jakku that was maddeningly... fascinating to him. To this day, Kylo can't quite pinpoint what it is. Perhaps her strong will. Her connection to the Force that he can only envy. The way her eyes flash during lightsaber battles. Or how his name on her lips - "Ben..." - still makes him go weak at the knees.

But now she is gone. And not even the drug-like Force Bond between them has been of any comfort or help in keeping her close to him, if only a tiny piece. Nevertheless, Kylo reaches out with the Force again... Rey...

He feels her. Her essence faint and flickering, so she must be at a great distance. But the ability to see her, to immerse in the illusion of standing right next to her despite the physical barriers, is still denied to him. He cannot access her thoughts or inner feelings. Every time he tries, it is like running headlong into a locked door. Oh, he can sense her moving, behind that proverbial door. Yet he has no way to open it. Or even kick it in. And sadly, he can be sure that Rey will do neither herself, if it means letting him in voluntarily.

He knows he should be thankful that the Bond has been blocked. He should be rejoicing at the decrease in distraction, relieved that Rey's bewitching persona is no longer at immediate access, like a drug addiction that you cannot shake. Yet, her aloofness is only increasing her enchantment, only fueling his fascination. Nay - _obsession_.

Perhaps this is what it feels like to be in what some traders and smugglers call "withdrawal."

He _wants_ her. He wants her, dammit! He wants her as his Queen, bride, apprentice. He wants her in his bed, impaled on his manliness. He wants her mind, body and soul.

And after all, what Kylo wants is what Kylo gets. He is accustomed to it. To be refused has been a foreign concept never before considered, much less experienced. Never in his First Order career has he been told, "No, you can't have that." Indeed, such a reply has never been uttered, for it is certainly beneath Kylo to actually _ask_ for something. Bile rises in his throat at the very thought. So, to approach a situation where the object of his desires will not immediately surrender to his possession without so much as a conscientious protestation baffles him. Then enrages him. Rey's image in his mind - laughing and happy and free, free from _him_ \- makes the lava of anger boil from the tips of Kylo's toes to his fingers. So that his hands have no choice but to summon his lightsaber, will it to sputtering life, and slash his entire chambers into crackling ruins.

"I'LL BRING HER BACK!" howls Kylo like a wounded animal. Then he bursts out of the wrecked room and snaps at Hux, who is standing right there, perhaps having been sent to investigate the carnage.

"General! Prepare my shuttle!" Kylo barks. And he stalks towards the Finalizer, ready to seize what he believes to be rightfully is, even if he has to carry her off with his bare hands.

Though the Force Bond is closed to him, and even if it were open, it could never make him privy to Rey's location anyway, Kylo has always been mindful to search his feelings. And by sorting through these, he uncovers a hunch.

A hunch of where his little Jedi scavenger might be.

* * *

They may have lost Luke Skywalker. They may have lost badly on Crait and been dwindled down to extinction-level numbers. They may have experienced the crippling blow of General Organa's passing.

But for Rey, being back on Ahch-To with what is left of the Resistance, she has never felt more relieved or safe.

The death of Leia Organa, the legend, actually became the rallying cry for any freedom-loving beings to rise up and fight the First Order. Slowly but surely, recruitment has been bringing the numbers of Resistance fighters back up. Hit-and-run bombing campaigns on outer First Order targets have begun. Rose is expected to make a full recovery from her injuries, in no small part due to Finn's help. Rey met the slicer soon after they fled Crait on the _Millennium Falcon_. Though weak, and hardly in the mood to chat - even the briefest of small talk could wind her at that time - Rose seemed nice and a wonderfully calming influence on Finn. Rey thinks there might be something going on between the pair, but she can't be sure. Still, if proven true, she thinks it would be good for her dear friend. Finn and Rose seem suited for each other.

And Rey has made new friends as well - one in particular whom she is not quite sure if he could be... more than a friend.

From the start, Poe Dameron has possessed a confident swagger that thrills Rey even now. Never mind that he is _very_ handsome besides - she was struck by his beauty the minute she met him on the _Falcon_. What's more, Poe seems to treat her as no one else has - like an equal, with kindness. Even if it might be mixed with transparent flirtation, Rey has never had any reason to doubt that he is sincere.

In breaks from Jedi training, and he from pilot runs, they have taken long walks together on the island. The healing landscape of Ahch-To has seemed to help Poe take his mind off the new leadership passed down to him by Leia. Young Dameron is now the de facto leader of the Resistance, the rebel counterpart to Kylo Ren himself.

So it is one day when Poe has to lead a bombing raid that he and Rey must say goodbye. Bidding farewell to fellow rebels is never easy, with the added stress of possibly never seeing them again. Poe tries to remain confident as he gives Rey a crooked grin.

"I'll be back, Rey."

Rey tries to give him an easy smile back. "Of course. Don't be late," she chides.

And then Poe suddenly takes her in his arms and kisses her.

Rey was not expecting it, but she relaxes into it. On the whole, it is a nice kiss, for a girl who is experiencing her first. And yet, as she closes her eyes and tries to picture the kiss, of her kissing Poe, she senses that she is thinking of kissing... somebody else...

* * *

After Poe leaves, all is quiet on the island of Ahch-To. Rey is on what she has dubbed Shaved Ridge Rock, practicing lightsaber combat, when suddenly -

The peacefulness of the rebel base is shattered by TIE fighters blasting out of hyperspace and into the planet's orbit. Blaster fire shrieks and explosions send the Caretakers and Resistance fighters runnning for cover and whatever ships can be spared. Finn leads a valiant bombardment from the ground, but it is too late. The surprise attack has caught the base flat-footed.

Racing down the stone steps from the first Jedi temple, two at a time, Rey watches as an especially imposing TIE fighter touches down on the rocky shores. A Force essence she has never wanted to sense again begins to pulsate at the outer reaches of her psyche, and she gasps, unbridled terror - mixed with a strange... hope (?) gripping her. It can't be... He couldn't have known about this place... It can't be...

But it is. Kylo Ren strides from the shuttle and watches his men surround the remaining Resistance fighters.

He is stockier than she remembers. He has obviously kept up lightsaber training along with his duties as Supreme Leader. And he is conspicuously not wearing his mask. Perhaps he thinks his striking face is just as intimidating without it.

The sight of... Ben again leaves Rey in a daze, so much so that she has no time to seize her lightsaber, no opportunity to come out of this strange trance the Sith pretender has cast over her, before he is nearly nose-to-nose with her, his Stormtroopers surrounding her with blasters trained.

"Either you will surrender to me, or your friends all die." His command gleans no response forthwith from Rey, which Kylo angrily interprets as an insolent refusal. He spins to his deputy, down by the rocks. "Kill them all."

"Will you promise not to hurt them?!" Rey blurts it, blasts it out desperately, if also a little tardily. Kylo snaps his head back to her, interest newly piqued in his features.

"What?"

Rey steels her shoulders and speaks as confidently as she dares. "If I go with you, will you promise not to hurt these good people?"

Kylo's face creases; it is taking his entire complexion to weigh this suggested barter. He lays down a term of his own. "Will you promise to remain with me forever?"

Forever is a very long time. Rey is well aware of that. But that is not to say that there might not be some way to escape one day. And if she remains obstinate in this moment, her friends will be murdered. The deal she and Kylo have clumsily crafted together is the best one she is going to get.

So she steps forward and looks him squarely in the eye, refusing to bow at least in this. "You have my word."

"Done." And before Rey can prepare herself for it, the Supreme Leader of the First Order is sweeping her off her feet, like a bride of the olden days - one who was truly carried off by force at the hands of the groom. A Sabine woman with galactic undertones.

Rey, the Last Jedi, is being carted off to become a... slave? Apprentice? Bride? Queen? She isn't sure yet.

But one thing she is sure of - at least for the present, there is absolutely nothing she can do about it.


	2. Chapter 2: Meet the Knights

**Chapter 2: Meet the Knights**

Rey attempts not to think about how perfectly she fits into the concave of Kylo Ren's chest, as he carries her off aboard his shuttle. She wills her focus instead towards the hopeless calls of her name by a trapped Finn and Rose.

But soon, they will be left unharmed... she hopes. She is more trapped than her friends. Trying to run away is pointless, she quickly discovers - Kylo insists on piloting the TIE fighter with her in his lap; when she merely shifts to try and get as comfortable as the situation will allow, his grip around her tightens. As if she could run from him.

Rey has no way of calculating how many parsecs they fly to return to the First Order. They finally reach the command ship in the orbit of some brownish, unfamiliar planet.

When the shuttle touches down in the main hanger bay, Kylo merely rises, still clutching Rey's waifish form and carries her off the ship. Rey is not amused.

"I can walk by myself, thank you," she snarls tightly. Kylo ignores her. It is only when they reach the bottom of the ramp that he gingerly sets her down.

They are standing in front of an officer Rey has never seen before. But judging from the impeccable cut of his wardrobe, and the way he cocks his chin, Rey guesses he must be an officer of high rank. Flaming red hair only exacerbates the impressive aura. A General, perhaps, and she is soon proven right. The officer takes one look at Rey, then back to Kylo, and he sneers.

"So this is what your waste of taxpayer money has gleaned. A concubine."

Kylo's brow contracts and he straightens to his full height. "The Last Jedi, General Hux," he corrects coolly.

Hux seems unfazed. "Very well," he drolls, the tone of his voice remaining unchanged. The monotone of his delivery makes Hux sound perpetually bored. Whether he is bored with his job or his general rank in the First Order, Rey cannot determine. However, Hux comes off as haughty and a snob to her, especially by how he literally looks down his hawkish nose at her. "I suppose we should get the desert rat cleaned up."

It is hardly punishment enough to grab him by the Force. Hux has scarcely turned to leave when Kylo seizes the General by the shirt collar, spins him round, hauls and punches Hux full in the face. All in full view of a startled Rey. She should be more accustomed to Kylo's violent outbursts. But it is the reason for his rage that this time catches her off-guard.

"Now, listen here, you pompous windbag!" Kylo growls, and he points a giant finger back at Rey, dragging Hux's face with the motion to make him look. "THAT is a lady! And you will address and treat her as such! _Am I understood?!"_

Hux's somber mask falls away as he turns as white as a sheet. "Yes, Supreme Leader," he squeaks.

Rey is surprised to find herself touched by Kylo Ren - of all people! - defending her honor. He is the last person she expected to have feminist sympathies, which makes the gesture all the more... welcome.

The chastened Hux presents Rey with an over-the-top bow. "Right this way, _madame_." Rey pretends not to notice the poison dripping from this term of respect. The last thing she wants to do is be escorted by this snoot, so she is comforted when she glances back to see Kylo following them.

Hux leads them both into the Supreme Leader's throne room. It has been repaired to appear more dark and more chilling and more majestic than Rey remembers it. All traces of the last time she was here have been scrubbed away.

Stationed around the room are half a dozen warriors all dressed in black. For a second, Rey wonders if they are Praetorian guards, to replace the ones she and Ben slaughtered. Until she remembers that those guards were dressed in red. These soldiers have masks similar to the one Kylo has worn.

She gasps as she realizes: these must be the Knights of Ren she's heard tell about.

"Knights! Fall in!" Ben barks.

His brothers-in-arms obey, removing their masks and circling Rey as they peer at her curiously. Some appear tempted to touch her, as though she is an exotic animal exhibit at a space zoo, but one look in Ben's direction and they shrink back. The message their leader silently sends regarding Rey is clear: _Mine. No touch_.

Ben introduces each Knight to Rey one by one. "This is Adam."

"How... how are you, Knight Adam?" Rey greets, even as she cannot believe she is making small talk with one of the enemy's elite.

"Next is Caleb. And these here are Daniel and Ephraim."

"How are you, Knight Ephraim, Knight Daniel?" These two have got to be twins; they look identical. Rey is quick to become confused. "Which one is Ephraim and which one is Daniel?"

She should have phrased the question better, as no clarification comes when both Ephraim and Daniel say in unison, "Me."

"Last, we have Frank, and this runt is Gideon." Gideon looks to be no older than Rey herself. Nineteen, maybe twenty.

"They're... fine-sounding names," Rey tries to compliment nervously. "Simple galactic names!"

"And not their birth ones. They were re-named after they were brought to the Jedi Temple. That was Skywalker's idea, to separate them from their past. And also to keep track of us."

Well, that is an interesting revelation. So these _are_ some of Luke's old students. Still, Rey does not know if the strategy will do her any good. "It might take me some time to fit the right name with the right Knight."

Ben actually smiles at her nerves. "Well, just remember your ABC's: Adam, Ben, Caleb, Daniel, Ephraim, Frank and Gideon. And they have Knight aliases, but you don't have to learn those."

Thank goodness. Rey turns to the Knight she thinks is Frank. "Now, is Frank a galactic name?"

Ephraim (at least she thinks it's Ephraim) interrupts before Frank can answer. "Oh, that's not his real name. Is it, Frank? We just call him that for short. His _real_ name is Frankincense..."

There is a mighty CRACK! as Frank brings down the hilt of a lightsaber down on Ephraim's head without warning. The victim topples to his knees almost comically, as Rey gives a shrieky yelp. Before her very eyes, a lightsaber duel mixed in with a fist fight ensues between three of the Knights.

Ben seems amazingly unconcerned. "They'll cool off."

"Was it something I said?" Rey cries, looking back to him.

"Oh no, Frank's just touchy about his name, is all. Here -" And he leads Rey to an adjacent room, Hux following blandly behind, along with the sounds of lightsabers whirring and punches landing.

"These are my chambers," Ben announces. He flushes and glances away when Rey gives him a curious look, interested to know more. The decor seems to suit him. "You are free to visit me here as often as you like..." He suddenly jumps as the brawl spills in from the throne room, Caleb reeling from a punch into Ben's back. The timbre of Ben's voice changes as he loses patience. "HEY NOW, HERE, HERE! OUT WITH YA! ALL OF YA! You too, Gideon!" as he throws the baby of the group out last.

* * *

Days pass into weeks. As the time drags on and on, Rey begins to entertain less and less the hope that her Resistance friends may rescue her. Perhaps they feel it would be to their detriment to try, as well as her own; Kylo could just kill her if he sensed a rescue plot.

So Rey's only remaining choice is to try and acclimate to life on this First Order starship. The Knights of Ren are as rowdy a bunch as ever, and they seem to do less training than carousing. But Rey is beginning to memorize all their names. General Hux still addresses her with a droll to his voice, as if he is unethused to even be in her presence. Or maybe he just has a stick the size of a lightsaber up his ass. At least he continues to address her as _'madame'_ or _'Lady Rey.'_

The one comfort of life with the First Order has come from none other than Kylo Ren. When he first asks Rey to train in lightsaber combat with him, she is wary, immediately suspicious that he is trying to sway her to the Dark Side again. But she accepts, if for no other reason than to hone her old skills and not lose any of Luke's sparing teachings.

This is where Rey finds herself now, dodging the crimson blade as it spits down towards her in a downward slash. The sweat is beginning to pour into her eyes from hours of exertion, but she manages to parry Ben's every blow with the help of the Force. At last, the hum of their blades fade as they pause to rest. Rey sees Ben is only beginning to catch his breath, so she throws him off-balance for the first time all day. But not from a lightsaber attack, oh no. It comes in the form of a question.

"Ben? Why are you so hesitant to leave the Dark Side?"

For a moment, she thinks he is going to lash out to protect himself, question her motives. It takes him a long time to answer, but when he does, he is surprisingly honest.

"The Dark Side is the one place where I've felt important."

Rey blinks in surprise. She can't understand why he would feel that way, with a master who only used him for his own ends. Nevertheless, it is almost instinctual how her pity reaches out to him through the Force. She catches his eyes and holds them in her gaze. "But you _are_ important, just as you are. As Ben."

They stare at each other for a pregnant moment until Ben breaks the staring contest. To ask a question of his own.

"Why did you agree to come with me? To surrender? I sense it was more than to save your friends."

He reads her so well. Rey has a feeling he would have suspected that her agenda was greater than saving the lives of her allies. And he's right. It is. She shrugs.

"Because... I still think I can save... you." And she strides from the gym, leaving Ben gazing after her.


	3. Chapter 3: You've Been Unfaithful!

**Chapter 3: You've Been Unfaithful**

It is the last thing she expects to happen early in the morning.

Rey is walking down towards the mess hall when her path is blocked by several of the Knights of Ren. Caleb, Adam, and Frank. When they get a little too close into their personal space, she can smell the alcohol on their breaths. They are drunk. Very.

"Move aside, please." But Caleb grabs her before she can sidestep him completely. She attempts to use Jedi martial arts to more forcefully shake them loose. But she forgets that these men were trained in the Jedi arts as well. In the middle of that hallway, the three men tackle her to the floor, pinning her there as they attempt to... oh maker!... gang-rape her.

Frank gets her leggings off, and is just about to de-robe himself and take the first crack when...

There is the unmistakable CRACKLE of a lightsaber, whirring and slashing, breaking noises and shouts. Ben has come to her rescue, fighting his own Knights to protect her. He swings to maim and injure, not to kill, which is enough to send the drunken and sexually starved Knights running. After they have fled, Ben picks Rey up, bridal style, for at least the third time since they have met and carries her back to his own personal chambers.

Once they get inside, however, it is clear to Rey that Ben's wounds are more pressing than her own. He has a gash in his arm, and another on his chest.

"Strip down to your pants," she orders, flushing for some odd reason at the phrasing of the command. Ben obeys, keeping his eyes maddeningly on her the entire time.

"Lie down," she instructs next. This, too, he follows.

Slowly, and trying not to think about the person attached to these... muscles as she works, Rey begins to bandage the Supreme Leader's wounds. All the while, Ben manages to get a hold of a com link and contact Hux. "General, I want all of my Knights on the first shuttle to Raxus Prime. They are to remain there until further notice."

"Yes, Supreme Leader."

It is only after Hux goes offline that Rey finds the courage to express: "By the way... thank you. For saving my life."

Ben gives her a gaze that is almost tender, as he actually replies, "You're welcome."

Those eyes... those impossibly green eyes that are one of the few non-dark things about him. Rey finds herself drawn closer and closer to them. She can sense his thoughts, deep desire bubbling up within his core. Yearning for something... but the identity of that something is left undefined.

All at once, the Force Bond blasts into full life after lying dormant and meticulously sealed off for months. Rey sees a swirl of Ben's memories: killing his father, killing Snoke, interrogating her in the prison room on Starkiller Base.

And then the memories shift to hers suddenly: she and Ben dueling in the snowy forest... scavenging for parts on Jakku's wastelands... Poe, and the feel of his lips on hers...

Rey's head reels back sharply, as if she has been yanked physically from behind, and she is out of the subconscious. She opens her eyes, having not realized that she even closed them in the first place.

Ben is shaking. No, violently _twitching_. It must be all he can do to barely keep the anger rumbling off his being in waves from spontaneously combusting. He raises his eyes to her, and they are no longer pure green, but chillingly black. Darkened and besotted by...

Jealousy?

"You have been... _unfaithful_!" And he half-growls, half-bellows the last word.

Rey is speechless at his particular turn of phrase. Unfaithful? Did they enter some sort of unspoken marriage in the ruins of that throne room? Pledge their lives and love to each other in a way she doesn't know about? Poe Dameron's kiss aside, Rey's never been in a relationship (neither of the committed variety nor otherwise) to even know How to Start One. But she's pretty sure breaking a lightsaber in half with the Force isn't on the list. If anything, such an act would better serve as a symbolic gesture if a Jedi ever wanted a divorce.

Meanwhile, Ben has risen himself from the bed. Still shirtless, and with only a bandage covering his chest, he begins to prowl about his chambers like an animal trapped in a cage, venting his rage without regard and not caring who hears. In the next moment, he is cursing Poe Dameron - a man whom he has met only once - up and down in every galactic language.

"Insolent _boy_ , this slave of fashion - basking in your glory! Ignorant FOOL, this brave young suitor - sharing in my triumph!" Ben turns on his heel abruptly, his boots squeaking into the polished obsidian floors as he now directs the full brunt of his rage at Rey. He bores down on her, and Rey does not know whether to stand her ground or shrink against the wall.

"I'll show you how a _real_ man should love you!" And before Rey can so much as scream for help, he yanks her flush against his body and kisses her. _Hard_.

Rey's eyes bug out of their sockets, and she lets loose a pitchy, startled squeal.

She had never expected for their first kiss to be violent. It is amazing that she has been warily anticipating a kiss at all. She is attracted to him, to be sure - she stopped denying that ages ago. Ben's full, puckered lips taste like sweet honey when pressed tightly against her own. For just a fraction of a moment, Rey's hands curl into his bare chest, fisting the skin there, and she lets out a tiny moan as she dares to... kiss him back...

But then his mouth slips from hers for a single parsec, allowing oxygen to flow into her lungs and with it, logic. Rey wrenches herself free, appalled with herself. But not enough to refrain from taking her revulsion out on the man who so audaciously kissed her without her permission, and she slaps Ben hard across the face. She gives him no time to recover, not even time for the echo of the slap to fade away, before she is running for the door.

"Promise or no promise, I won't stay here!"

* * *

Of course, she should have suspected that her outrage would not carry her very far beyond the walls of the Star Destroyer. She doesn't even make it out of the private chambers that have been assigned to her, where she sits for many hours, trying to recover from the shock of the day and go to sleep.

Time heals all wounds, as they say. And with each passing, silent minute, Rey begins to regret slapping Ben in that way. She even begins to miss his presence, even if he can be an obstinate child of a man sometimes.

Tentatively, she reaches out to their Bond with the Force. She runs into his mental walls almost immediately; he is clearly in no mood to talk.

Well, then, she will go to him in person. Because _she_ wants to talk to _him_. And come Sith or high water, she is going to.

She enters his chambers silently, as only a Jedi can. "Ben?"

He gives her no verbal response, but she can tell from his Force essence that he is awake. Rey tentatively draws nearer to the bed, sitting on the edge of it. His form is just hovering beneath her, so she knows he can hear her when she whispers:

"I'm sorry I slapped you. I over-reacted. I was scared. I... didn't know that my... kissing Poe would bother you. And honestly..." She actually cracks a smile. "His kiss wasn't much to rave about. Now that I have a comparison." She flushes red, as she admits shyly. "You're a great kisser."

And before she can fully think through what she is doing, she bends over him and begins to plant kisses along his body.

Ben sits up immediately, as if burned, and pulls Rey to him, flush against him, so that she is scandalizingly straddling his hips. Removing her top for her with a gentle flourish, he lays both himself and Rey back onto the bed.

Where they begin to make love... where he deflowers the desert scavenger...

* * *

Many hours later, the Jedi and Sith lovers lie wrapped blissfully in each other's arms. Ben has one arm thrown over a naked Rey, who has a content smile on her face as she drifts in and out of sleep.

"Rey?"

"Hmmm?" she purrs, sighing as she snuggles closer to him.

But before he can elaborate, sunlight blinds them as the doors to the Supreme Leader's chambers bang open. And there stands Hux, looking mortified and satisfyingly stupid. "Supreme Leader... Lady Rey... I..."

"OUT!" Ben bellows in outrage, as a flustered Rey attempts to cover herself with the bedclothes. Hux practically trips over his own feet in his haste to leave.

A beat. And then Ben and Rey burst out laughing before settling down to sleep together once more.


	4. Chapter 4: Evermore

**Chapter 4: Evermore**

He watches with admiration as she effortlessly commands reverence from everyone she encounters. And she doesn't even try to elicit that respect. He observes her playing with the small children of the First Order's higher-ranking officers, who are also based and educated here.

Neither he nor Rey has brought up the night they made love in his chambers. Ben expected there to be some awkwardness in the immediate aftermath, but there has not been. He can therefore only conclude that Rey enjoyed it; at least, she has never explicitly stated that she _didn't_ enjoy it.

Watching her playing with the little ones from a balcony above the hanger bay, he ponders softly, "I've never felt this way about anyone... I wanna do something for her. But what?"

Sadly, his only confidants are Hux (who has been wary of how close Ben has become to Rey), and DJ - now working for the First Order but a mediocre servant at best.

"Well, there's always flowers, chocolates... promises you don't intend to keep..." the General attempts, as the trio stroll down to the ground level.

"No, this is no ordinary girl! He needs to give her... s-s-something s-special!" DJ stutters.

Rey now approaches, her eyes happy as they fall on Ben. His friends whisper to the Supreme Leader.

"S-Say s-something about her hair."

Ben thinks for a moment, and then announces with a triumphant smile and a little too loudly, "It's brown!"

Hux does an actual face palm. "A compliment," he clarifies.

"Oh," Ben backpedals, now referencing the ribbon in Rey's hair. "What a nice bow!"

Rey beams and blushes. "Thank you."

Ben then gets a flash of inspiration. "Leave us," he commands Hux and DJ. Then he shyly takes Rey's hand. "Rey, there's something I want to show you. But first, you have to close your eyes. It's a surprise."

Rey trustingly lets him lead her through the hanger bay. "Can I open them?"

"Alright... now!"

Rey opens her eyes to see a magnificent ship, not unlike the ones sunken in the sands on Jakku. Except this one is in perfect working order.

"It's wonderful!" she gasps.

"And it's yours," Ben smiles nervously.

He expects her to leap in the thing and flee. But she does not. Instead, she hugs him. After pulling away, she glances at him shyly.

"Would you, um... like to have dinner with me tonight?"

Ben stares at her in disbelief. "Like a date?"

She giggles - a trilling, glorious sound. "Yes."

"Absolutely!"

* * *

Ben is better than his word. Not only does he prepare a Feast for Rey, he prepares a whole ball, for officers and their ladies to dance for her entertainment.

So he is a little confused when Hux and DJ practically wrestle him into a fancy ballroom monkey suit. Ben has never been one for fancy dress, and especially not colorful dress. He normally only works in black... and sometimes very, very dark grey.

But his protestations fall away when he beholds Rey, adorned in a golden gown, on the dance floor. She approaches him with a tentative smile, as Hux and DJ practically shove him forward. In a corner, the Knights of Ren are snickering to themselves.

"Dance with me?"

Ben flushes as red as his lightsaber. He doesn't dance, never has. "No, I..."

"Dance with her!" Hux and DJ snap in unison.

So Ben does. He holds Rey gently and they begin to waltz. She eyes him almost breathlessly, and she seems a little nervous in navigating the steps.

Yet soon, they are moving in a unifying harmony Ben has not felt since their battle in the throne room. And the only constant is losing himself in Rey's eyes...

At the song change, both feel rather hot, so they steal away to a balcony to be alone.

"Rey, I..."

"Yes?" And her voice is innocent and sweet.

Ben desperately wants to tell her he is in love with her. He has tried to banish the revelation in the past, but gave up on the effort. She's so beautiful - in the Force and in his presence - and he's... he changes the subject.

"Rey, are you happy here?"

"Oh, yes. Everyone is so welcoming. The officers... even General Hux when he wants to be..."

"With me," Ben clarifies.

She turns to him. "Yes."

A tense moment, broken only by Rey standing and self-consciously running her fingers through her hair. How Ben wants to do that himself!

"Is something wrong?"

"I miss the Resistance, though. I wish I could see them again."

Ben ponders for a moment, and then brightens. "There is a way." He calls upon the will of the Force to picture the Resistance, guarding against the urge for the image to stir him to anger. He teaches the trick to Rey. "This will let you silently observe anyone you wish. It is kind of like our Force Bond, but one-sided."

Rey pictures someone. He can sense it... and how whatever she is seeing is causing her deep distress.

"Finn is hurt! There was an attack! I should... I should..."

"Go to him," Ben finishes for her. FN-2187, the deserter. Injured in an attack Ben had ordered, but he doesn't tell Rey that.

"What?"

"You should go to him." Rey opens her mouth to reply, but he raises a hand to silence her. "You're not my prisoner anymore, Rey. You haven't been for a long time. Take the ship with you. So you always have a way to look back... and remember me."

Rey's eyes fill with tears. "I could never forget you."

"Rey, I..."

"Yes?"

His courage fails him. "Go."

And when Hux later asks why he released her, Ben can only say, "Because... I love her." For he does.


	5. Chapter 5: Part of Your World

**Chapter 5: Part of Your World**

It feels good to see the sun again. Breathe the fresh, salty air that only Ahch-To can provide.

The Resistance was, of course, happy to see Rey again, relieved if also a little surprised that she returned from Kylo Ren unharmed. When Rey told a healing and thankfully safe Finn that the Supreme Leader had actually let her go, he was speechless. He once served under Kylo Ren, and never thought the man capable of any kind of good will.

And yet, despite being among friends again, Rey cannot help but feel out of place. The answer becomes clear all too soon, and she doesn't bother to deny it, as she once might have where he was concerned: she misses Ben. She misses their daily lightsaber training. And of course, her mind always dreams back to that magical night when they danced... and that _other_ magical night when they made love...

Mercifully, she still has a way to be with him. Every night, in her little hut, she dreams of their moments together. And also, she has discovered that she can maintain the Force Bond...

Even when Ben is asleep.

The first time it manifests itself, she thinks he somehow maddeningly managed to sneak all the way behind enemy lines and into her very bed. But she soon realizes it is a trick of their Bond, and she lets it play where it will. Essentially, she has Ben in her arms every night (even if he is not aware of it and physically lightyears away). Sometimes, she will stay up and watch him sleep, drinking in his features and the way his dark curls fall over his eyes. She even sings to him sometimes, as she does in the hours of daybreak one morning:

 _"What would I give, to live where you are? What would I pay to stay here beside you? What would I do to see you smiling at me? Where would we walk, where would we run, if we could stay all day in the sun?"_ He stirs, and she tenderly reaches for him, to soothe him back into slumber. _"Just you and me, then I could be part of your world..."_

The connection breaks then for the night, and Ben's form fades away, just as it does almost every morning when his physical body begins to stir awake through the Force. Rey always feels him rising, but that doesn't make their parting any less hard.

And any less depressing, as she feels a knock on her door alongside the rising of the sun.

Ben has only just disappeared when Rey acquiesces to the caller coming in. It is Commander Poe Dameron, along with his Deputy, Connix and a few other Resistance officers. When Rey first reunited with Poe back on Ahch-To, their exchange had been awkward. When he had gone in for a kiss in greeting, she had visibly flinched away, leading to a tense hug instead. Sure, he was handsome, but... he wasn't Ben.

"I hope you had a nice sleep, Miss Rey," Poe now says to her. "We require your assistance today, if you can."

Rey rises from her bed, still in her pajamas, but she'll change later. "What can I do for you?"

"We need you to give us any information you can on the whereabouts of Kylo Ren and the First Order," Poe entreats her earnestly. "You were on the inside with them for weeks. If you can provide us with any reconnaissance, we can get one step closer to destroying this monster."

Rey visibly winces at Poe's description of Ben as a 'monster,' and offense bubbles up within her through the Force. "He is not a monster!" she outbursts.

Many of the Resistance leaders awkwardly look at their feet, while Poe just stares at Rey, flummoxed. Rey's face heats up as she tries to explain. "I... I got to know him while I was a... prisoner." She knows she wasn't exactly a prisoner, but it might not help her present case if the Resistance knows that. "He is in a lot of pain, and generally not many people understand him, and..." She's tripping over her own words, and she sees from the expression on Poe's face that her words are not going in.

"How can you say that?" he gawps at her. "He has murdered whole villages; destroyed whole star systems! Who are you to say that you know him?"

His talking down to her makes Rey fly off the handle, her Force essence pulsing with outrage. "I can prove it!" And she wills the Force Bond into the greatest clarity it has ever taken. "Show me Ben!"

And there he is, all at once, in the hut, and she knows immediately that he feels the Bond activated to. He turns to her, eyes surprised but nonetheless pleased at the contact. "Rey?"

Poe fires his blaster at Ben, but the bolts go right through him harmlessly, only creating holes in the hut wall instead.

"It's a hologram!"

"A vision!"

"Is he dangerous?" The Resistance leaders shriek.

"Not right now at this moment, but no, he would never hurt anyone!" Rey insists. She knows she must sound mad to them, but they don't know Ben like she does. "Please, I know he looks frightening, but he's really kind and gentle... he's my friend."

Rey gives Ben a loving and tender look as she says this, one that Ben returns. And Poe notices. He steps between the pair. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you had feelings for this monster!" he growls. The envy is written plainly all over his face.

Rey has had enough with Poe's characterization. Her anger explodes through the Force as she shouts, "He's not the monster, Poe! You are!"

Poe looks stunned, as does Ben. But the latter also seems almost triumphantly smug, at Rey defending his honor. As for the former? He proceeds to lose his cheese and crackers.

"She's a turncoat! A traitor! We have a chance to end Kylo right now! She has made him weak, but if she won't help us, we will get him ourselves!"

Rey is not sure how Poe plans to do this, until she sees him eyeing something she had not noticed before. She can see Ben's surroundings through the Bond...

And in the background, she can see a holographic map showing the position of the First Order fleet. Dantooine. They are over Dantooine.

"Connix: prepare my ship for hyperspace to Dantooine!" Poe orders.

Rey turns to Ben. "BEN! Run away, far away! They're coming -"

Poe steps right through Ben's image, dissolving the Bond himself. Rey tries to leap past him with the Force, but the commander suddenly stuns her with his gun. Before she knows what is happening, shackles are on her, and she is chained to her bed.

"And when we get back... you, Jedi Knight Rey, will be charged with high treason!" And Poe leads the Resistance off Ahch-To, bound for Dantooine. Rey can only listen to their victory chants fading on the wind.

It doesn't take long for her despair to devolve into rage, however. Using the Force, she undoes her chains and then her handcuffs. Slips out of the hut and disarms the one guard stationed in front of it. She sprints down the stone steps, slipping on the wet spray left there, to the ship Ben gifted her, and fires it up, setting course for Dantooine.

 _Hang on, Ben_ , she urges through the Force, through the Bond that they share. _I'm coming._


	6. Chapter 6: I Love You

**Chapter 6: I Love You**

So far, the battle to preserve the First Order isn't going well.

After Rey's Force warning, Ben and his followers had just enough time to scramble a fleet to confront the Resistance in the skies above Dantooine. But the haphazard launch had not prevented Poe Dameron and a battalion from touching down on their main Star Destroyer. While a troop led by Finn engages the other Knights of Ren, Poe confronts Ben himself. The pilot audaciously fires at Ben as the blasts were deflected by his lightsaber. In between shots, Poe taunts Ben to wear him down - taunts about Rey.

"She never loved you, you murderous Sith! Who would love a monster? Rey is mine!"

And he launches himself at a demoralized and heartbroken Ben, grappling for control of the saber. At that very moment, Rey appears, having passed through the firefight and managing to land under the guise of the First Order's insignia. Now, she watches as Poe gets a grip on the crinsom blade and strikes Ben through the stomach.

"NOO!" she cries, hand to her mouth.

Hearing her voice, Ben feels his strength and meaning renewed. His own saber still in his chest, and with an assist from an enraged Rey, the Force-users Force Push Poe off the platform and into deep space, where the Commander falls to his death.

Ben staggers forward, past still dueling Resistance fighters and Knights. Rey is within sight and reach and no man alive can keep him from her. "Rey!"

Rey rushes forward, as Ben pitches forward, just catching him and lowering his form to the deck.

"Hold your fire, HOLD YOUR FIRE!" Finn commands, and the battle abruptly stops. All watch as Rey cradles Ben in her arms, his head in her lap.

"I'm so sorry..."

"You came back..." Ben heaves with the effort to speak.

"Of course I came back. I couldn't let them... harm you..."

"Maybe it's better this way..."

"Ssssh. We're together now. You'll see."

"At least I got to see you one last time..." Ben's speech begins to falter. Rey begins to sweetly sing for him:

 _"We are home. We are where we shall be forever..."_ Ben makes a guttural sound, croaking and wheezing to try to speak, but Rey places a calming finger to his lips. _"Trust in me, for you know I won't run away. From today... this is all that I need and all that I need to say. Home should be where the heart is. I'm certain as I can be. I've found home. You're my home."_ Tears falter her tone, and she is shakingly whispering. _"Stay... with..."_

"Rey, I..."

"Yes?" Rey blubbers, her tears falling on his upturned face. And then she feels his Force essence drifting away, to her horror. Their Bond severing...

"No! No, please! Please don't leave me!" And because she never got to tell him before, she breathes: "I love you!" And she tenderly kisses his lips.

For a moment, all that can be heard is Rey weeping, bent full over the body of her Ben. First Order and Resistance alike sadly watch, moved. Then -

A white shimmer of a spirit appears. Then another. And another. Force Ghosts, who now surround Rey and Ben's body. Rey raises her head in amazement to see the Jedi in the center of the band.

"Master?"

The spirit of Luke Skywalker himself smiles down at her as he waves his hand. A puff of light smoke suddenly seeps into Ben and...

He breathes.

Rey stands, gobsmacked, hardly daring to inhale air. As Luke and Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon and Yoda and Anakin all dissipate, Ben shakily stands and turns to face Rey.

No words are spoken. Rey cries tears of joy, and then, not wanting to spend a solitary second further apart, she and Ben launch themselves into each other's arms. And there, in the presence of everyone, Jedi and reformed Sith, Supreme Leader and scavenger, share a dreamy kiss.

* * *

The First Order is disbanded, but Ben remains leader of the galaxy, now a more benevolent ruler. Commanding at his side is his Bride and new Queen, Rey Solo.

Together, husband and wife train a new generation of what become known as Grey Jedi in the ways of the Force. And they live happily ever after.


End file.
